Inscribed below, within ornamental round brackets: “a View of his Majestys Ship the Valiant of 74 Guns on a Cruise in the Bay. Drawn by Benjn Toddy”.

'Valiant’ is depicted centrally in starboard-broadside view, flying a red ensign and a streamer at her maintop, under full sail, with the guns of her main deck run out. Further back and to left is another three-master, but with only a single gun deck, flying identical colours; to right is a single-masted square-rigged vessel. Other vessels either side punctuate the horizon, in the far distance.

The ship in question must be the 74-gun third-rate ‘Valiant’, which was involved continuously in the American Revolutionary War from Nov 1777, taking part in several of the major actions on both sides of the Atlantic, but until the end of 1781, as part of the Channel Fleet. It is presumably this first phase in her career that is being depicted here, if we take the “Bay” of the caption to be that of BIscay.

Recent research has established that Toddy was a Greenwich pensioner 1783-95 who, according to inscriptions on other similar works, painted without the use of his hands, bar his left thumb. In Toddy’s know oeuvre, ‘Valiant’ is the only ship depicted more than once. See artist description for full biographical details.